The O Canada Challenge

JUNE is National Aboriginal History Month (NAHM), a time for Canadians to celebrate, honour, and acknowledge the Inuit, Metis and First Nations! Although this month has been officially declared as NAHM since 1996 this is the first year that I am hearing about it…and I’ve lived in Canada my whole life! I think it is safe to say that your average Canadian doesn’t know about NAHM either so let’s change that!

The Challenge:

Everyday this month take it upon yourself to learn something new about Canada’s first peoples (i.e. Inuit, Metis, and First Nations) such as their accomplishments, cultures, traditions, stories, their history, present, and future. I’m calling this the O Canada Challenge!

For those of you who are Inuit, Metis, or First Nation please join the challenge by sharing your history with your non-Indigenous citizens. Be heard this month! 🙂

#ocanadachallenge

Two Golden Reasons to Care:

We’ve (non-Indigenous) been deceived: “O Canada. Our home and native land.” We’ve sung these words thousands of times but the fact is they are not true for the majority of us. We (non-Indigenous) are not native to this land no matter how much our passports or birth certificates or religions convince us. The very least we can do is acknowledge whose land we are calling our own.

Knowledge is power:Educating yourself might just lead you to playing a key role, directly or indirectly, in bringing about more positive changes to the injustices that Indigenous nations continually face in this country.

Thank you for reading and I hope you join me in the O Canada Challenge!